August 10, 2010
Ann Coulter Speaks to Gay Group
Steve Weinstein READ TIME: 2 MIN.
All Coulter, the reed-thin, blond-haired beauty who has shot to the top of the nation's best-sellers lists and become a darling of the right-wing radio and Fox New crowd for her outrageousness and outspoken views, has shocked the Rightochracy for deciding to keynote fundraising party for GOPRoud.
The group, which is far right on fiscal issues but more centrist on social ones involving gay rights, is having a self-style "Homocon" party in New York City on Sept. 25.
"I'm so tickled that she agreed to do it," Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of GOProud told The Daily Caller. "Think about it: She's hilarious, she's provocative and, honestly, our folks just love her."
LaSalvia said he had only considered her and she immediately agreed. "Of course I'll do it," Coulter wrote to GOProud when they asked her to join the event. "I'm the right-wing Judy Garland!"
Judy Garland? Maybe. What some ultra-right bloggers on Free Republic believe is that "Sarah Palin has a big homosexual following...she's the Liza Minelli of conservative politicians." Many also express open satisfaction with Tammy Bruce, an out right-wing radio pundit.
But -- no big surprise here - Peter La Barbarera, the fire-breathing, one-issue anti-gay radical who heads up (and may very well himself be Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality. LaBarbera didn't waste any time going public with his plea for Coulter to end her dangerous liaison.
"As a fan of Ann Coulter, it pains me to see her cave in to political correctness and lend credibility to the phony homosexual 'conservatives' over at GOProud. Worse, Coulter is sending a dangerous message to young Americans that homosexuality is OK. (It's actually a sin.)," he wrote on his website. "Fully half of GOProud's top 10 federal priorities center on using the Government to advance homosexuality."
Others on our side (well, a very few others) may see it differently.
In a controversial piece he wrote for the Village Voice, noted gay journalist and editor Trenton Straube said some nice things about GOProud's bifurcation of social and fiscal issues.
The question is, if Coulter joins our side, will we still be able to make fun of her style choices?
Tammy is a kind of hot...
Steve Weinstein has been a regular correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, the Advocate, the Village Voice and Out. He has been covering the AIDS crisis since the early '80s, when he began his career. He is the author of "The Q Guide to Fire Island" (Alyson, 2007).
